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1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

1995 AFC Championship game still haunts Harbaugh
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on May 12, 2011, 5:09 PM EDT
Each day, PFT Live producer Matt Casey sends out a wide assortment of possible clips from the show we can choose from to post on the rumor mill.

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh gave a lot of interesting, newsy answers about his squad that are relevant to today’s NFL. And I’m not going to pick any of them.

The segment that interested me most was Harbaugh’s recollection of the 1995 AFC Championship against the Steelers, and the near-catch by Aaron Bailey that almost sent an upstart Colts team to the Super Bowl.

“Coming that close to your dream of participating in the Super Bowl, and then seeing it brush by your face in an instant, and you walk off the field and you go ‘there will be other days,’” Harbaugh said. ”And then you realize it was the only day.”

I remember the play well. It’s a reminder how lives can change on one snap, and how random winning can be.

“It haunts you in a lot of ways to come that close to your dream and not get to touch it,” Harbaugh said.

Re: 1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

Where does this loss rank among the all time worst Indianapolis Colt losses? It's definitely the worst of the pre-Manning era, no question about that. But where does it rank all time?

The 5 worst losses of the Manning era, IMO, are:

1. Super Bowl 44: As time goes on this one is just going to sting more and more, especially if we never get back to the Super Bowl. Everything is different if we win that game. We are multiple champions and can rightfully be mentioned with Pitt and NE as the best teams of the era. Instead, we will always be a step behind them. Plus Manning is anointed as the best QB ever by a huge bulk of the media if we win that game. Think, we would have had weeks and weeks of Manning gushing (one of the best QB seasons ever if he wins that SB) as opposed to the Katrina New Orleans hype that lasted for weeks. Instead, he losses a Super Bowl to Drew Brees and throws game ending pick 6 at the end of the game. If we win that game then there is nothing that anyone can say about him. But until he wins another, we'll always hear, "yeah, but his SB was against Grossman."

The Freeney injury, the on-side kick, the Garcon drop, the Manning pick six, the year long New Orleans/Katrina/Saints hype...That game stings so badly

2. 2005 Divisional Matchup against the Steelers: That was definitely the best Colts team of the Manning era, no question about it. I've probably never felt as down after a loss. But we were completely outplayed that game and didn't deserve to win, and Pittsburgh was just a super tough team. Still without a doubt a top two loss all time, given how great that team was and how easy our road would have been if we could have just won that game. We would have smacked the Broncos like we always do and I don't think we would have lost to Seattle indoors. But the pain from this loss was at least eased by us winning it all the following year.

3. 2003 AFC Championship game at New England: That was a frustrating game because we hung with them pretty good. Plus "The Patriot Act" was enacted as a result of that game, was it not? To make matters worse, that game would have been in Indy has we not had the dreadful 4 and out against the Pats in that epic game which we came back from a big deficit only to lose in dreadful fashion. We were 12-4 and they were 14-2. Had we won, we would have both been 13-3 and thus the game would have been in the Dome since we would have owned the tie-breaker. That just goes to show you how one series can really mean everything in the NFL.

4. 2004 Divisional loss at New England: Definitely the most embarrassing loss of the Manning era. Our record setting offense put up a putrid 3 points in that game. Once again, a regular season loss against them all but decided the postseason outcome. As was the case the year before, they were 14-2 and we were 12-4, and if we could have beat them in the season opener we'd have been 13-3 with the home field tie-breaker. That game was just as frustrating as the year before. We lost 27-24 after leading 17-13 at the half. Edge had some big fumbles and Vandershank missed a FG that would have forced OT (it was 48 yards because of a 13 yard sack on Manning the previous play). Just a heartbreaking game.

5 is a bit of a head-scratcher for me. I'll go with the irritating loss to the Chargers in the 2007 Divisional Round. We had a chance to take a freaking 14-0 lead in the first quarter but then Harrison fumbled it near the endzone. That of course was Harrison's first game in months as that was the season of the never ending saga of whether Harrison would play or not. Many of us around here suspected the injury was worse than the Colts ever let on and unfortunately we found that out in the most important of games. Plus Rivers left that game with an injury and freaking Bill Volek led them on a 78 yard game ending drive. That was just a super annoying game against a super annoying team. That was the season where Vinny missed that 2 feet FG against them in the game where Manning threw like 14 picks.

I'll rank the 95 AFC championship third, right behind that other Steelers game.

Re: 1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

The 1995 AFC Championship game loss was bad, but I agree with Sollozzo that it was not as bad as most, heck if not all, if the playoff losses in the Manning era. The Colts were favored to win most of those games and really should have won three rather than one Super Bowls in the last decade.

In 1995, no one expected the Colts to even win a playoff game, or heck many thought we wouldn't get to the playoffs to begin with or be any more than an average team. The fact that we hung in so close and really should have won the game warmed my 9 year old heart and although we lost I remember feeling that the team overachieved. In every Manning playoff list maybe with the exception of those early 2000's losses in New England I felt that we underachieved and absolutely should have won the game.

Re: 1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

The 1995 AFC Championship game loss was bad, but I agree with Sollozzo that it was not as bad as most, heck if not all, if the playoff losses in the Manning era. The Colts were favored to win most of those games and really should have won three rather than one Super Bowls in the last decade.

In 1995, no one expected the Colts to even win a playoff game, or heck many thought we wouldn't get to the playoffs to begin with or be any more than an average team. The fact that we hung in so close and really should have won the game warmed my 9 year old heart and although we lost I remember feeling that the team overachieved. In every Manning playoff list maybe with the exception of those early 2000's losses in New England I felt that we underachieved and absolutely should have won the game.

Yeah, I agree.

The thing is, if we win the SB against the Saints, I could be 100% content with everything. I could live with all the terrible losses if we were multiple time champions. I would be 100% content with the Colts. But instead, we are left with that feeling that we should have just accomplished a little more during the Manning era.

Like I said earlier, the Saints loss is just going to sting more and more as time goes on, especially if we don't make it to the Super Bowl again. We know as well as anyone how difficult it is to make Super Bowls and we had a tough enough time doing it when Manning was younger and we had super loaded teams. Now he is 35 and by any objective measure, is entering the twilight of his career. It's going to be super tough to make another one, that's for sure.

Since we won the Super Bowl against Chicago, we have only advanced in the playoffs ONCE (09 when we went to the Super Bowl). So in 3 out of 4 years, we have been one and done in the playoffs since we won the Super Bowl. Who would have thought that? That's just unacceptable when you have one of the greatest QB's ever.

Re: 1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

Where does this loss rank among the all time worst Indianapolis Colt losses? It's definitely the worst of the pre-Manning era, no question about that. But where does it rank all time?

The 5 worst losses of the Manning era, IMO, are:

1. Super Bowl 44: As time goes on this one is just going to sting more and more, especially if we never get back to the Super Bowl. Everything is different if we win that game. We are multiple champions and can rightfully be mentioned with Pitt and NE as the best teams of the era. Instead, we will always be a step behind them. Plus Manning is anointed as the best QB ever by a huge bulk of the media if we win that game. Think, we would have had weeks and weeks of Manning gushing (one of the best QB seasons ever if he wins that SB) as opposed to the Katrina New Orleans hype that lasted for weeks. Instead, he losses a Super Bowl to Drew Brees and throws game ending pick 6 at the end of the game. If we win that game then there is nothing that anyone can say about him. But until he wins another, we'll always hear, "yeah, but his SB was against Grossman."

The Freeney injury, the on-side kick, the Garcon drop, the Manning pick six, the year long New Orleans/Katrina/Saints hype...That game stings so badly

The Katrina hype lasted all the way until they lost to the Seahawks......

Also, I hate the whole, "Yeah but you only played against bla bla bla that year."

In the end no one gives a damn, all they care about is winning. Did the Jets give a damn they beat us without Collie, Sanders, Gonzo, Dallas and basically half our team on IR last January? Hell no. Besides, the real Super Bowl that year was New England @ Indianapolis AFCCG and we kind of had the greatest AFCCG comeback. Ever.

The Katrina worshipfest loss is the worst though.

I'm going to get out of here before I kill myself though. I'll leave with this positive thought: How about we make up for that Saints loss and all the others this February, eh?

Re: 1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

If we would have won that game in '95 we would have gone on to face the Cowboys, who surely would have beat the ever loving **** out of us. But I would have been so happy to see it

I'm not so sure they'd whipped us. Remember that we went into Texas Stadium the next season and beat them on their own homefield.

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
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Re: 1995 AFC Championship Game Still haunts Harbaugh

As a Chiefs fan, I can tell you that the Colts never should have been in that game to begin with, and I'm haunted by that 10-7 loss more than any other football loss I've witnessed as a fan. The fact that it came to my hometown team only made it worse.